Austin DWI blood tests OK, state panel decides
State panel: Complaint against Austin police crime lab is unfounded.
Texas Forensic Science Commission rejects complaint about Austin police lab’s testing of blood samples in DWI cases.
Officials for the Texas Forensic Science Commission have determined that allegations of improper testing of blood draw samples at the Austin police crime lab are unfounded and don’t merit further investigation. The samples are evidence in thousands of DWI cases.
The commission made the decision this month, ending its inquiry into claims made by a former lab employee that fueled doubts about the lab’s overall operations at a time of intense scrutiny on its DNA test results.
Commission officials said in a statement Friday that “the complaint was not accepted for investigation.”
Former lab employee Debra Stephens in December charged that the method Austin lab techs were using to calculate blood alcohol levels didn’t allow for a wide enough margin of error, overstating the confidence in their results. In an interview with the American-Statesman last year, she said she was alerted to the deficiency when she was hired to retest a blood sample for a case challenging the Austin lab’s results, and reached a much different conclusion.
Officials said commission member Dr. Sarah Kerrigan, a member of the Forensic Science Standards Board for the National Institute of Science and Technology, reviewed the complaint on behalf of the group and deemed that Stephens was confusing measurements in her complaint.
Until that complaint, officials have focused on the forensic lab’s troubled DNA division, the target of a critical July audit by the forensic commission. The report found the division’s staff was poorly trained and using an outdated method of analyzing DNA evidence, conclusions that prompted the shuttering of the DNA section days earlier.
The DNA lab remains closed, and city and county officials are still working to determine how to proceed.
This month, officials for the
Travis County district attorney’s office began notifying more than 2,000 people convicted of crimes in cases involving DNA analysis that their convictions might be eligible for review.
Assistant Police Chief Troy Gay, who supervises the lab, said Friday, “Our department is pleased with the final outcome from the Texas Forensic Science Commission regarding this matter and will continue to provide our citizens with quality service by utilizing best practices within the forensics division.”
Travis County Attorney David Escamilla, whose office prosecutes misdemeanor DWI cases said, “We are pleased to learn the allegations by Debra Stephens have been determined to be without merit and we look forward to proceeding with prosecution of our DWI cases.”